


Divine Suffering

by QueenQuendya



Series: Familia et honorem [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Family Drama (Harry Potter), Childhood Trauma, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Multi, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Pureblood Society (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24753148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenQuendya/pseuds/QueenQuendya
Summary: Angeline wanted claw his perfectly tousled hair out. She stabbed her steak a little more forceful than necessary, pretending it was Sirius Black’s hand. Did he have to make every social event about himself? She wanted to tell him to stop provoking his family. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Walburga Black turning an alarming shade of prune.Would this high society hell never end.
Relationships: Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Orion Black/Walburga Black
Series: Familia et honorem [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811116
Kudos: 6





	Divine Suffering

Summer balls, dinners, hunts, and lunches were the highlights of society calendar (with the exception of the Malfoy’s Christmas ball). Anyone who was anyone, were expected to attend and show off their most expensive clothing, their children, and of course their most impeccable manners and breeding. 

On the whole, Angeline quite liked them. They meant very good food, and being allowed to look through various extortionately wealthy people’s homes to see what furniture and art they had been buying in the last season. Of course some of the hosts were actually pleasant too, and not raging blood-purists which was an added plus. 

The Most Noble and Ancient house of Black, was not one of those families. They were however disgustingly wealthy, and an invitation to their ancestral home was not to be turned down. It was an exclusive event, one which had a yearly changing theme and was always hosted in the end of July, as a farewell before the end of summer. 

The Parkinson hunt has been two weeks prior, and the Longbottom ball two weeks before that. But this was the grand finale of the season. The theme for this year’s dinner was “Divine Suffering” an… peculiar topic, no doubt picked by Walburga Black herself. There would no doubt be more house elves adorning the walls this year. 

“What do you think ‘Eline? Think this fits the theme?” Henri, her older brother, came swanning into her room and did a little twirl. His black and red robes flickered in the light making it seem like he was on fire. He’d got his hair trimmed last week so it was just above his shoulders, but he’d added a spell to make it flicker red at the tips. 

“I hate it, but it fits for the occasion. How they get away with choosing these dress codes I have no idea”

“Money” Henri said simply, while adjusting his hair in the mirror, it started faintly smoking. 

Angeline huffed, and continued to apply her own custom makeup charms. She had some new tailor made ones ordered while they had been in France over the summer. The french were so much more advanced in the beauty industry then England so it was always such a treat to go shopping there. One of them was meant to enhance her lip shape, and make them the perfect shade for her complexion.

“Angeliiiiiinnnee!” came a loud shout from the hallway.

“What!?” She yelled back, right before Danielle came bursting in and dramatically dropped onto the  chaise longue . Merlin save her, was her bedroom becoming a sitting room now?

“Can’t I stay home? I hate their house, it so…. spooky”

“No, Mummy said we are all going, even you, now that you’ve turned 14”

“I much preferred being allowed to sit out on some of these things, Nellie would let me read in the library with biscuits.”

“Dani don't worry, the food will be good, and you'll be sitting with the children regardless. The youngest Black is apparently fairly tolerable, and isn’t your Greengrass friend coming?”

“Vivian can’t make it, she has the blood pox and has to stay bed ridden until September” Henri and Anageline grimaced, that one was particularly horrid, but good healers and the power of youth generally made sure you would survive it. 

“Ah that’s awful Dani, but don’t worry I’ll save you if things get too boring or if one of the furniture pieces attacks you” Henri jumped towards her, startling Daniella who let out a squeal, and proceeded to chase her around the bedroom.

“Henri!” Angeline chucked her hairbrush at him “Stop telling her lies, it’s going to be fine!” 

Henri ducked, damn those quidditch reflexes “Of course it will, they’re just rich racists hosting a party not part of a witch hunt.”

***

The ancestral home 12 Grimmauld Place extruded an expensive and macabre atmosphere. As was customary, the drawing room fireplace was used as a party entrance, with timed entrances. The wallpaper was a dark gray with swirling silver patterns crawling up the walls. Everything in the room gleamed faintly. Clearly the house elves had been furiously polishing the whole house leading up to this event. Under the archway a solitary figure awaited them. 

She was tall, well proportioned, with a face which might have been described as beautiful if only her eyes weren’t so soulless and her smile not so sharp. Walburga black was graying, Angeline noted. But it was the kind of graceful ageing many could only wish for. Her face was still free from any sign of aging.

The Blacks were known to come in two varieties: the crazy on the outside or the crazy on the inside. It was the incessant inbreeding which meddled with the mind or the body, very rarely did an individual not eventually suffer from one or the other. 

“There you are, and right on time, we are so grateful that you could join us tonight. Kritzel will take your coats and show you to the sitting room we are starting off in. The Longbottoms, Malfoys, Bones, Nott, and Greengrass families are already waiting.”

“Thank you Walburga, as always it is a great privilege to dine in your home.” Mother said prettily, Walburga returned a frosty smile. Kritzel the house elf gave a deep bow, her ears drooping onto the floor, before leading the family out through the side door. As they entered into the corridor they heard the fire blazing again, and Walburga greeting new guests.

***

Small talk like usual had been filled with hurdles, some of the neutral houses were more pleasant to talk to, but as usual those with dark allegiances were more of a headache. Angeline had been asked her thoughts on muggles three times, if she was engaged to anyone yet, and what she thought about the latest dark lord rumours. She had barely managed to weasel her way out of any outright social blunders. This was not the time or the place, she reminded herself, to tell Lord Nott to go put his conservative blood values up his own arse. 

Luckily Narcissa Black had come to her rescue and they had discussed the latest trends from Paris and new ideas for their tutoring group for the coming school year. Their friendship was a tentative one, both knew the others had different views on many things, but they had agreed to not discuss it unless they were alone. To instead use their exemplary magical talents to help younger year girls who needed a bit of help with charms, ancient ruins, or astrology. Originally they had been paired by Professor Flitwik as they were two upper year girls who did excellent work in class and they had continued ever since.

Within the hour, all the guests had been greeted, properly socialised, offered multiple drinks by various house elves scuttling about the room and everyone had been led into the enormous dining room. The whole southern wall was dark paned windows which looked down on the enormous courtyard garden that was in the middle of the home. The ceiling was decorated with ornate moldings of astrological signs and constellation patterns adorned with gold leaf and jewels. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, with a large black crystal chandelier suspended mid air over the long table as the centre piece.

The whole table was divided into three groups. Children at one end, teens and young adults in the middle, and those over 30 at the other end. All families were split up to allow for more socialisation. As luck would have it, Angeline found her seat close to the adult edge of the table, but across from Frank Longbottom and with Julianna Bones to her left. 

“Thank you all for coming to our home this evening, it is always such a privilege to dine with such distinguished guests. I hope everyone will be able to enjoy the food, and the dancing afterwards. The ballroom even has a special surprising waiting for all of you layer!” Orion Black said lifting his glass to a toast.

Julianna and Angeline shared a quick look, knowing Walburga’s planning that really could mean anything. 

***

It was the third time, the third! That Sirius Orion Black decided to pick a fight during the dinner. Firstly about Slytherin’s being bad at quidditch this season (true but not the time), the second one was with Lucious Malfoy and what a snob he was (also true but  _ really not the time _ as Narcissa had let it slip earlier that summer that they had entered into a sacred engagement. One which neither one of their parents knew about), and now he’d decided to discuss his love for muggle motor- driven-bicycles. Whatever they were.

Angeline wanted to claw his perfectly tousled hair out. She stabbed her steak a little more forcefully than necessary, pretending it was Sirius Black’s hand. Did he have to make every social event about himself? She wanted to tell him to stop provoking his family. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Walburga Black turning an alarming shade of prune. 

Would this high society hell never end. 

“And I was thinking of getting one actually, imported from  _ America _ ” Walburga’s eye’s bulged, as her hand around her silver goblet went white at the knuckles.

“YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING ONE OF THOSE FILTHY MUGGLE DEVICES AND BRING IT INTO THIS HOME” She howled.

“It’s not filthy, you nag! We have far worse things in the entrance hall alone! What do we EVEN NEED A TROLL LEG FOR?”

“It was a gift from your great aunt boy! Have some respect!” Pollux Black yelled back in outrage from further down the table. Sirius barked out a sharp laugh, his eyes seemed to glow in the candle right

“Oh in that case, was the curse part of the gift too?!” Angeline didn’t know what to do, she wanted to yell at his horrible family for never taking any of his interests seriously, but also shake him and tell him to stop. That riling them up for sport would do no good, they would never care.

Orion Black finally seemed to notice his wife and son’s yelling. He sighed before calmly staging “There there darling, why don’t you go lie down”. Walburga excused herself from the table but not before smacking her eldest son over the head on her way out. 

“Sirius you will stop this nonsense at once! Eat you pudding and let us all enjoy this meal in peace.” Sirius pulled a face but listened to his father. 

“The pudding is particularly good this year Orion, very flavourful” Lord Bones said finally, offering a tentative olive branch it seemed. The whole table let out a sigh of relief. 

***

Opened the terrace door to find that it was already inhabited by a lonely figure, balancing elbows on a railing looking out on London.

“Oh sorry I thought this one was empty” She stated awkwardly, Sirius looked over his shoulder

“It’s fine. Plenty of people want a breather from the dancing. I can’t expect everyone to want to waltz all evening.” He paused, and sized her up “That dress really suits you by the way, didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier” Sirius said before taking another drag of his muggle cigarette, blowing the smoke out into the night sky. He looked tired, a stark contrast to dinner where he’d practically been on fire. 

“Thank you Black, you don’t look so bad yourself.” In fact he looked great, but then again he always did, with his perfect bone structure, long slightly wavy hair, and silver eyes. Even his teeth were perfect. For a brief second she humoured the idea of it all being magically fixed, that Black actually was meant to have looked like a troll.

“A complement? Oh I really am lucky tonight” Angeline rolled her eyes, joining him by the railing. Though his long hair she could make out his smile in the moonlight and his dimple. 

Of course Sirius Black did not generally smile genuinely in public, that would showcase the genetic defect in his right cheek. He smirked, he glared, he smoldered. But he was not one for smiling, a shame Angeline though, he didn’t look like such an absolute tosser when he did. It was almost endearing. 

“So thoughts on the decorations? Mother has been curating this horror show since the end of term.”

“It’s certainly striking”

He let out a snort, “That’s one way of putting it.”

“The contortionist and then floating skulls were a nice touch. How did she manage to get so many hellish oil paintings? That must have cost a fortune to commission”

“Oh them? they were the least of our problems, they were just in the attic. I think one of my great grandparents collected them.” They shared a grimace, scenes of raw torture and suffering was an… interesting choice of wall decor. 

“Why are you out here brooding anyway? You seem to get so much joy out of riling your relatives up”

“Mother dearest is trying to marry me off to one of the Selwyn daughters” They shared a second grimace.

“That is...unfortunate.” Suddenly she felt awkward, this was common enough of course, but that would be a terrible fate and he didn’t deserve something of that sort. Not only were both the daughters terribly plain they also held frightfully conservative positions on any subject under the sun. 

“Yeah well she wants me tied down, making her nice little grandchildren with a good obedient and wife”

“You’re not even out of Hogwarts yet”

“Doesn’t stop her from scheming. Of course it doesn’t even matter what she says because it’s all up to dear old Grandad to make up his mind. The bat is positively frothing at the mouth that the engagement to the Greengrass girl when I was 11 fell though, and wouldn't betroth me to Cissa instead to keep it in the family”

“Oh I remember that, you had just gotten into Gryffindor hadn’t you?”

“Best night of my life” He said easily

“But Narcissa? I know your parents are cousins but that… can not be good for the gene pool she’s your first cousin” 

They stayed quiet for a moment, every once in a while Sirius would take a drag of his cigarette.

“My parents are thinking of sending me to the continent, to meet lots of eligible french men, and settle outside of England until this all…. Weathers over” It was easy to forget the tensions rising outside of parties and school, people were disappearing, more and more attacks on muggle villages. The Death Eaters, as they called themselves, were getting bolder.

“No such luck for me”

“I'm sure there are some nice eligible men out there that will have you, even if just for your looks and money” His bark like laughter cut through the air.

“Maybe” he was oddly nice, when he wanted to be Angeline, he always seemed so pompous at school swaggering about with his friends, having girls fall at his feet, being a quidditch star and all that. 

“--You know, you’re funnier than I anticipated” his voice cut right through her thoughts. She flushed and realised she been spacing out 

“Did you think by default of being a Ravenclaw, I was without a sense of humour?”

“Well we haven't spent much time together have we, I tend to get locked up for bad behaviour during these socials and we’re in different houses…” he trailed off with a shake of his head, flicking the final stub over the railing.

“I was in your arithmancy class last year actually, and charms”

“Really?” He looked at her fully for the first time, suddenly he seemed very tall when he wasn’t leaning over the railing anymore. 

“You and Potter got yelled at a lot, it was hard to miss”

“Ah yeah, that sounds about right. The class is too easy, and I can't be bothered to pretend to pay attention when I already read the coursework.”

Not for the first time that night, Angeline felt like she was seeing behind a curtain, that there was a different boy hiding behind his roguish, carefree exterior. One which apparently was much brighter than he let on, but what could she say to that? Congrats that one of the most complicated forms of theory and spell work comes easy to you? That would be stupid, it felt invasive to ask so she settled for something safe

“Are you looking forward to going back?”

“This house is a nightmare, I can’t stand any of them except Reg and he’s blind to their flaws. All they do is yell at each other, sometimes one of my crazy aunts will get involved and curses start flying, honestly this is the most civil it’s been all summer. Can’t offend the guests too much after all”

“I don’t know how to respond to that” She said faintly.

“I’m used to it” he sounded so resigned that suddenly indignation on his behalf just roller out of her, 

“Well you shouldn't be! that’s awful and it’s horrible how they treat you. I know we aren't close but I hope you know there are better people out there, once who don’t treat you like this. Mind you don’t exactly play ball with them either but this is not how normal functional families behave. You might be a prick at school but at least your gaggle of Gryffindor friends seem to genuinely like you for who you are. Not what you are to them, you aren’t a prized pig waiting for slaughter” It all just came pouring out of her, no amount of etiquette lessons it seemed could stop her. She could feel her face and neck flush from embarrassment, looking away she decided to inspect her nails instead.

“That’s… the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Fuck, du’Blac are you alright?”

Angeline could feel a hysterical laughter trying to escape

“I’m fine, are you?”

“Oddly enough, yeah. I think so, your little peptalk has really helped actually.” He flashed her a blinding smile, his eyes lit up in the starlight and his hair looked so soft, would it be soft? His robes really showed off his fantastic quidditch physique. 

_ Oh god terrible thoughts, awful thoughts.  _

“Then I’m glad. I think I should go inside again now. I hope you have a good rest of your night, try not to get into another fight with a relative or wind up your mother again, she looked about ready to kill at dinner”

“I make no promises” he gave her a short wave before lighting up another cigarette.

“Good night then Black”

“Sirius” he said over his shoulder

“What?”

“Call me Sirius, i’d rather be just me instead of them if that’s all the same to you”

“Well I suppose you should call me Angeline then. Night Sirius”

“Enjoy the rest of the party… Angeline”

***

Breakfast the next morning was a quiet affair, Lord and lady du’Blanc rarely came down until noon after festivities, preferring instead to eat breakfast in their own respective bedrooms. 

“Did you hear about Black?” Henri broke the silence, Dani was busy making herself a jam toast but shared an equally puzzled look with her older sister.

“No ? What happened?”

“Frank Longbottom sent me an owl this morning. Their oldest, he ran away after the party apparently. Walburga broke a whole set of china” Henri grinned, flipping the page of his newspaper.

“He’s in your year right, ‘Eline?” Dani asked

“Yes, he’s...always ready for a fight”

“With a family like his I'm sure he is.” Henri stated another sip of his coffee.

_ Winding your mother up one final time after all Sirius.  _ Angeline poured herself a cup of tea.

“You know what, I’m going to have the rest of my tea in the garden, I’m suddenly in a great mood” she said putting down her napkin, before walking out into the sunshine.

Yes today was going to be a bloody fantastic day.


End file.
